06 January, 2009

After a nice vacation cross country skiing in the White Mountains we returned to find some new Velo Orange Products had arrived.

The long awaited Belleville bars are nicer than we expected with lovely polishing and a smooth even bend. You may remember that these are our version of what is probably the most popular style of French city and utility bike bars ever. They are 43cm wide ( or 45mm outside-to outside) and have zero rise. That's fairly narrow for a city bar which is an advantage in traffic. They are made of road bar sized tubing. 23.8mm, and accept inverse brake levers or bar end shifters. The straight grip section is a generous 150mm. The VO logos are lazer etched under the grips.

We are so pleased with the quality from this little Taiwanese handlebar factory that we are asking them to make our upcoming VO Porteur bar. It will be much like the very popular Belleri porteur bar we used to sell (unfortunately those are no longer made).

We also have an improved version of our ever popular VO bell mount. This was the very first Velo Orange product, the mount that launched a company. The new version has longer threads and a few other minor improvements.

Man, I was ready to order the Belleville bars and now news of the Porteur bars.Chris, can you please make this an easier decision for some of us and let us know the width & rise of the P-bars and if they will accept bar end shifters? Also, will the P-bars be in the same price range as the B-bars?Thanks, happy 2009,nv

The Porteur bar will be made from the same tubing as these bars, so inverse levers and bar-ends will work. It will be more a expensive handlebar, maybe $30-$40; the bends are more complicated. Have a look at the photo of the VO Gentleman bike for an idea of the shape. We have drawn plans and are awaiting prototypes, but there might be some changes after we test them so I don't want to offer any final dimensions yet. The VO Porteur Bar is not an exact copy of the Belleri; we've taken some liberties.

Thanks for the info on the Porteur bars, Chris. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on designing a bar that can fit a twist-shifter as well as inverse brake levers, as I feel that an internal geared hub plus inverse brake levers are a great combination on a porteur (very self-serving opinion, as that's what I run currently). Right now, I have an albatross bar that has the ends bored. But, I don't like the width or rise. The only off-the-shelf bars I find that can fit this unusual combination is the Soma Sparrow, and I was surprised that a possible solution even existed. The only problem is that the handle length is not ideal for housing a grip-shifter, and the handle angles seem a little steep to me. I know the target design here might only appeal to a very few, but just wanted to hear your thoughts on this, if possible.

A thought just crossed my mind: a bespoke bar service, where for a fee a customer could design and have built a small run of bars--say ten or so, from some small builder. So, someone with a penchant for inverse levers at the end of drops and nostlgic for the bars on their first 'real' bike, a UO-8, yet also enjoys the stiffness their FSA carbon stem offers, and wants to run 31.8mm dia., 36cm wide bars with a Maes bend and bored at the ends could have their wish fulfilled. Or, if a 6'9" gent is attached to his AVA stem and wants to sport a dirt drop style bar 58cm at the levers, flaring out to 67cm at the ends--anodised gold, mind--he too could have his dreams met. I bet such a service would be used by a small, yet enthusiastic, crowd.Chris (or Tom), interested in brokering with Taiwan on this? mb

Thanks for the info on the P-bar Chris. Without committing to any dimensions, I guess what I'm most interested in knowing is 1) will the P-bars likely be wider than the B-bars? and 2) will the sweep on the P-bars likely be wider, narrower or near the B-bar...Sorry to be a pest, just want to order the right bar for the job...nv

The Belleville handlebars look really nice! Going back and reviewing the photos of the original French bars that inspired them on the VO blog, it looks like the Bellevilles flare out quite a bit more than the originals. Is this the case or is this an illusion between the images?